Tile Calculator
Calculate the number of tiles needed, grout quantity, and costs for your tiling project. Get accurate calculations including waste percentage and material costs.
Accurate Tile Quantity and Cost Calculation
Our tile calculator helps you determine the exact number of tiles and grout needed for your project. Simply enter your room dimensions, tile size, grout width, and waste percentage. The calculator will provide you with detailed material requirements including the number of boxes needed and cost estimates for tiles, grout, and labor.
Results
FLOOR
TILES
GROUT
Cost Breakdown
How to Estimate Tile for a Floor
Tile is square footage plus a waste allowance, and the waste allowance is the part that decides whether you finish the job. Take the area, add 10% for a straight lay, 15% for a diagonal, 20% for herringbone or a room full of jogs — and buy it all in one go, because dye lots do not repeat.
1. Measure the area
Length times width. Break odd shapes into rectangles and add them. A 10 by 8 bathroom floor is 80 square feet.
2. Pick your waste percentage from the layout
Straight lay 10%, diagonal 15%, herringbone or chevron 20%. Diagonal patterns generate offcuts that fit nowhere.
3. Add for the room shape
Every jog, alcove and doorway adds cuts. A plain square room sits at the bottom of the range; a bathroom with a vanity, a toilet and a closet sits at the top.
4. Convert to boxes, then round up
Tile sells by the box and boxes vary. Divide your total by the box coverage and round up — you cannot buy two thirds of a box.
5. Buy the whole job in one order
Colour varies between production runs. A box bought three weeks later can be visibly different under the same light.
Worked Example: a 10 x 8 Bathroom Floor
12x24 inch porcelain, straight lay, one vanity and one toilet to cut around.
| Item | Working | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Floor area | 10 x 8 | 80 sq ft |
| Waste, straight lay with fixtures | 80 x 12% | +9.6 sq ft |
| Total to buy | 80 + 9.6 | 89.6 sq ft |
| Boxes at 15.5 sq ft each | 89.6 ÷ 15.5 | 5.8 → 6 boxes |
| Actually delivered | 6 x 15.5 | 93 sq ft |
Waste Allowance by Layout
| Layout | Add | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Straight lay, square room | 10% | Cuts are mostly reusable on the opposite wall. |
| Straight lay, cut-up room | 12–15% | Every fixture and jog is another cut. |
| Diagonal | 15% | Triangular offcuts rarely fit anywhere else. |
| Herringbone or chevron | 20% | Angled cuts at both ends of the run. |
| Large format over 24 in | 15% | A broken tile costs more square footage. |
What Tile Installation Costs per Square Foot
The per-square-foot figure people search for hides two numbers that move independently. The tile you can price exactly: square footage plus waste, straight off your supplier's list. The installation you cannot, because 200 square feet of open floor in 12x24 tile and 200 square feet of shower in mosaic are the same area and nowhere near the same job. Work out the area and the piece count first, price the tile, then price the setting materials and the hours as separate lines. A single blended rate per square foot covering both is a guess with a safety margin built into it.
Tile size and format
Large-format tile covers ground quickly but demands a flatter substrate, back-buttering and levelling clips, so the hours do not fall in proportion to the piece count. Mosaic sheets go the other way. A shower floor in mosaic is slow work in a small area, and it is priced by the hour rather than by the square foot.
The layout
Straight-set on a rectangular floor is the baseline. A diagonal, herringbone or offset pattern raises the waste allowance from around 10% to 15 or 20% and slows the setting, because every course generates cuts. Decide the pattern before you price the tile, not after.
What is underneath
Self-levelling compound, backer board, an uncoupling membrane or a waterproofing system in a wet area are each a material cost and a separate labour day, often with a cure time between them. On a bathroom this is routinely half the material spend, and it never appears in a headline per-square-foot number.
Cuts and edges
A small bathroom is almost all perimeter. Every cut is a trip to the saw, and finished edges need bullnose tile or a metal profile priced per linear foot. Count the linear feet of exposed edge as its own line.
Setting materials
Thinset coverage depends on the trowel notch, which is set by the tile size, so a large-format floor eats more mortar per square foot than a small-format one. Grout depends on joint width, tile size and tile thickness. Both are in the calculator above, and both are commonly under-ordered by exactly the amount that forces a second trip to the supplier.
Taking the old floor out
Demolition, disposal and getting the substrate flat again is a job in itself. On stuck-down vinyl or an old mortar bed it can take longer than laying the new tile.
The Lines Behind a Tile Price
Price each line with your own supplier and your own hourly rate. The tile is the only one a homeowner has any feel for, which is why the rest of the quote is worth writing out rather than folding into a rate.
| Line item | What drives it |
|---|---|
| Tile | Square footage plus the waste allowance the layout demands |
| Substrate prep | Levelling compound, backer board, screws, primer |
| Waterproofing | Membrane and corners in any wet area, priced per square foot and per linear foot of seam |
| Thinset | Bags, from the coverage rate at the trowel notch the tile size requires |
| Grout and silicone | Joint width, tile size and thickness, plus silicone at every change of plane |
| Trim and profiles | Linear feet of exposed edge, in bullnose tile or metal |
| Demolition and disposal | Existing floor type, skip or trailer, and how far it has to be carried |
| Labour | Hours, driven by format, layout, cuts and access rather than by area alone |
| Sealing | Grout and stone sealer, and the return visit to apply it |
Where Estimates Go Wrong
Ordering exactly the square footage
There is no layout that produces zero waste. Ordering flat means a second order, a different dye lot, and a visible patch.
Forgetting the extra box for repairs
Keep a box. Five years later a cracked tile with no match means redoing the floor.
Estimating a diagonal layout at straight-lay waste
The difference is five percent of the whole floor, and it always shows up at the far end of the room.
Tile Calculator — Common Questions
What does tile installation cost per square foot?
The tile is the part you can price exactly. The installation is not a per-square-foot number in any useful sense, because the same area takes very different hours depending on tile format, layout, how many cuts the room generates, and what has to happen to the substrate first. Price the tile from the area plus waste, then price levelling, waterproofing, setting materials and labour as their own lines.
How much extra tile should I buy?
10% for a straight lay in a simple room, 15% for diagonal or a cut-up room, 20% for herringbone. Plus a spare box for future repairs.
How many boxes of tile do I need for 100 square feet?
Depends on box coverage. At 15.5 square feet per box, 100 square feet plus 10% waste is 110 ÷ 15.5 = 7.1, so 8 boxes.
Why does dye lot matter?
Tile colour varies between production runs. A box from a later batch can be noticeably different, which is why the whole job should be ordered together.
How much grout do I need?
It depends on tile size and joint width — wider joints and smaller tiles use much more. Large-format tile with a narrow joint uses very little.
The Other Calculators
All free, all the same idea: measurements in, quantities out, your own prices on top.
Concrete Calculator
Yardage, bags and cost for a slab, footing or pour, at your own rates, plus what actually drives the price of a concrete job beyond the ready-mix.
Open the calculator →Paint Calculator
Paint quantities and cost for walls and ceilings separately, in gallons, with coats and coverage accounted for, plus what decides an interior or exterior painting price.
Open the calculator →Drywall Calculator
Drywall sheets, framing, screws and insulation for a room, by sheet size and waste allowance, plus how drywall repair is priced and why it is not by the square foot.
Open the calculator →Drywall Cost Calculator
Price a drywall job: board, compound, tape, screws, hanging and finishing labor, at your own rates, with the cost per square foot at the end.
Open the calculator →Concrete Cost Calculator
Price a slab: ready-mix, the short-load fee, gravel base, forms, rebar and finishing labor at your own rates, ending with the cost per square foot.
Open the calculator →CMU Block Calculator
Blocks, courses, mortar bags and reinforcement for a concrete block wall, with your own prices on top, plus what a block wall costs once the footing and the steel are counted.
Open the calculator →Brick Calculator
Bricks and mortar for a wall, by brick size and joint thickness, plus what a brick wall costs to build once the footing, the bond and the access are priced.
Open the calculator →Tile Cost Calculator
Price a tile job: tile, thinset, grout, trim, substrate prep and setting labor at your own rates, with the cost per square foot at the end.
Open the calculator →Painting Cost Calculator
Price a painting job: paint, primer, preparation hours, trim, access and sundries at your own rates, interior or exterior, per square foot.
Open the calculator →Drywall Repair Calculator
Price a drywall repair the way it is actually quoted: by repair type, hours, trips to the house and your minimum callout charge.
Open the calculator →Drywall Mud Calculator
How much joint compound and tape a job takes, by finish level, converted into the boxes, pails and bags you actually buy.
Open the calculator →Electrician Calculator
Wire length and cost for a circuit run, by conductor size and material, plus what decides the price of the job: open walls, the number of openings, and what the panel can take.
Open the calculator →Put This Calculator on Your Site
Free to embed, on any site, with no account and nothing to sign. Paste this where you want the tool to appear. It sizes itself to fit, and it keeps working whether or not the visitor ever clicks through to us.
<iframe src="https://contractorgetonline.com/embed/calculators/tiler"
data-cgo-calculator
title="Tile Calculator"
loading="lazy"
style="width:100%;min-height:900px;border:0"></iframe>
<p>Free <a href="https://contractorgetonline.com/calculators/tiler">Tile Calculator</a> by Contractors Get Online</p>
<script src="https://contractorgetonline.com/embed.js" async></script>The only thing we ask is that you leave the credit line under it. If you would rather link than embed, a plain link to the calculator page is just as welcome.
Winning the Job Is the Other Half
Estimating gets you the number. Getting asked to quote in the first place is what a website and a Google Business Profile do — live in 72 hours, from $49 a month, set up for your trade.